Detail : If he plays well, the scribblers generally say "Ballack could do better". If he is average, the same question always poses itself: "What was wrong with Ballack today?" If Oliver Kahn ships too many goals, "Ballack was playing too offensively". If things are not going well in the final third, "Ballack was sitting too deep". In fact, only when he has a truly outstanding game do we read: "Today we saw the real Michael Ballack".